TIA has received from American readers the request to translate from Portuguese to English the open letter of Fr. Ernesto J. Cardozo, a Brazilian priest writting from the State of Rio de Janeiro. We took the original document from the Argentine blog Radio Cristiandad. What follows is the English translation of Fr. Cardozo’s whole text, including the footnotes. The Editor

Open Letter to my Colleague Priests, Faithful & Friends

Nova Friburgo, May 13, 2012
95th anniversary of the 1st apparition of Our Lady in Fatima

After reading the letter of the three SSPX Bishops to the General House, and the answer given by Msgr. Fellay and his followers (which have more or less the same errors as those manifested in the past by Dom Gérard, Fr. Rifan and Fr. Muñoz), I have nothing more to say than to express:

1. My total adhesion to the SSPX and its Founder and, therefore, my absolute support of the three Bishops who remain faithful to the work of Msgr. Lefebvre, in whom I place my obedience.

2. My non-recognition of the authority of Msgr. Fellay, given his pertinacity and distancing from the principles of the Founder, and [my non-recognition of the authority] of all those who share his position of surrendering to Rome, independent of the office they occupy, and, therefore, my rejection of such position of this Bishop, based on his opinions and polices that are totally removed from the policy of yes-yes, no-no of the Gospel and the foundations given by Msgr. Lefebvre. (1)

Fr. Ernesto Cardozo

3. Our absolute rejection also to any accord with modernist Rome to which this Bishop, Msgr. Fellay, is shamefully dragging us in a suicidal operation, ignoring the counsels:

Of the Founder;

Of his three brothers in the Episcopate;

Of diverse priests who, in the last years with due reasons, refuted his steps toward a communion with a Church self-defined as “post-conciliar” and not Catholic, which is enemy of Our Lord and His universal Kingship. (2) They ended by being expelled or resigning in order to not end in the lamentable situation we have reached today.

4. For these reasons, I call on the three faithful Bishops, who have an authority given to them by the Founder, to assume the command of the SSPX to avoid its dismantling and dispersion.

5. I call on the members and faithful who still maintain a minimum of loyalty, fidelity and obedience to the Founder to support in a clear and efficient way our three Bishops, and withdraw all support from those subservient followers of the one who permitted, by his consent, collaboration and silence, the present day state of affairs that is leading the SSPX to an irremediable division.

Given that we have been confirmed, i.e., that we are soldiers of Christ the King by the anti-modernist oath we made at our ordination, in order not to end in perjury and apostasy, I call on all to clearly take the position of Tradition and support with all their efforts the defense of the SSPX, the secure boat in which we have reached so many goals and through which we survived the apostasy of our times, while we wait for the complete conversion of the Pope and Rome to the Eternal Rome.

Trusting in the consecration of our religious family made in the past to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, let us combat with her and for her until the end. Amen.

Fr. Ernesto J.J. Cardozo

1. In a letter dated August 18, 1988, Msgr. Lefebvre, referring to the agreement made by Dom Gerard, wrote to Dom Thomas, prior of the Monastery of the Holy Cross: “to maintain his liberty and reject any bond with modernist Rome.”

2. In a statement made this Friday [May 11, 2012] to Catholic News Service, speaking from the General House in Menzingen, Switzerland, the Superior of the SSPX, Bernard Fellay, admitted discrepancies in the Society regarding an accord with the Holy See: “I cannot exclude that there might be a split,” he affirmed.

Msgr. Fellay told CNS that in his opinion “the move of the Holy Father - because it really comes from him - is genuine.” “It doesn’t seem to be any trap …(sic!) So we have to look into it very closely and if possible move ahead.”

Referring to the initiative of Benedict XVI, Fellay was quite clear: “Personally, I would have waited for some more time to see things clearer, but once again it really appears that the Holy Father wants it to happen now.”, “But we are not alone in working to defend the faith. It’s the Pope himself who does it … (sic!)”